wood cutting table ??

[hyiu]

Hi All:

weather has been bad in NYC.... so... my cab progress has been down to 0 recently.... (I think its going to be a while longer before I can pick it up...) but I'll go skiing in the meantime.... (and I might try snowboarding this yr also...)
hope I can come back in 1 piece....  

Errr... ok.... back to the topic....

I have a circular saw, a jig saw, and a router...
I use to just cut wood by holding the saw, but then it sucks... (cannot cut striaght...)  then... I read from one of you guys' site... tips on better woodworking....
using a ruler as a guide.... that will help cutting straight lines.... (what a good idea...)
That is good.... but I have to measure really strange distance... too many measuring for a simple cut.... (and usually... my cutting will be a tiny bit off....)  

I'm been saving a little lately.... and Chinese New Year is coming.... so... hopefully... after that.... I'll have enough $$ to buy a wood working table..... (I love video games... but I also like wood working... so... this is good....)  

I would like to buy a woodworking table that can mount a circular saw upside down from the bottom, and also can mount a router upside down from the buttom, so that I can just push the wood along the table and it can be cut....
(like I saw those on tv...)
I would also like it to be a fold-away table (if possible) ?? and not too big ??

anyone has any ideas about these ??... cos I know quite a few of you guys have access to like professional grade wood working places to build cabs....

anything I should look out for ??.....

Any particular brand / models that anyone recommends ??

or should I build one ?? am I able to build 1 myself ??

Thanks for any inputs !!!    

[DeathMonk]

Your refering to a table saw.   They are very handy and you could probably pick up a used one cheap.

[Mike]

If you want the router table and tablesaw in the same package your not going to be able to get anything small. Home depot sells a Ryobi tablesaw that you can get an accessory kit to turn it into a router table too for $400 for the tablesaw and accessory kit. What might work better for your needs if your limited for space is a portable table saw and a seperate router table. Going the second route you could probably pick up a decent setup for around $250. I'd recommend sears for the second setup. They have cheap decent router tables and they always have portable table saws on sale cheap.

[neuromancer]

I'd recommend sears for the second setup. They have cheap decent router tables and they always have portable table saws on sale cheap.

I just bought a 10" jobsite table saw from Sears, for about $400. It is a nice tool. There's no way to cut a full sheet of plywood on it, without something to support the wood on both sides of the saw.

For making straight cuts with both your saw and your router, you can get a 96" saw guide (made by Johnson Controls) at Home Depot for under $30. It comes in two pieces and includes clamps. Add three saw horses to that, and you can make any straight cut you desire. It will be much easier than anything you can do with a table saw, unless you have the space to set up big infeed, outfeed, and side tables.

If you don't need to rip the plywood, you can just use a 48" metal ruler. That's what I do for cross cutting a full sheet. The trick is to align and clamp the straight edge. What I do is place the ruler about where is goes, and put a clamp lightly on the "far side" of the piece. I put my circular saw up to the piece like I was going to cut it and compare the saw blade to the mark. I adjust the near side of the ruler and lightly clamp it.

I measure from the end of the plywood, and make both sides equal. Then I compare the postion of the blade to the mark on the wood, and adjust both sides again. It usually takes three "adjustments" before I am satisfied that my cut will be exactly perfect. Then I plug in the saw, turn it on, and cut ever so slowly into the piece. I make sure my cut is actually as perfect as I thought it was before I go ahead and cut it off.

Hope that helps.

I don't see where a router table would be helpful in building an arcade cabinet.

It's too bad you live so far away, my old table saw is for sale -- cheap.

Bob
South Carolina

[hyiu]

well... cos for my cabinet.... I'm not going to use t-molding...

I'm trying to make it so that it looks more like "furniture"... (and that will get less complain from my parents...)

I'm planning to route most edges round....
but on small pieces... its hard to route.....

on tv, I saw those guys have the routers set upside down, with just the bit sticking out.... after adjusting, then turn it on, they can just push the piece of wood against it and it'll be perfectly routed..... (similar to table saw...)

I think I'll need to visit both Sears and Home Depot and see what options are available....

thanks for all the advises....

 

[neuromancer]

I'm planning to route most edges round....
but on small pieces... its hard to route.....

I think I'll need to visit both Sears and Home Depot and see what options are available....

Well, I'm always for buying more tools! Sears has a much better selection, esp. for router accessories.

I'd go to Home Depot first, to see what they have, because their prices are lower. Then go to Sears, because they have cooler stuff. If you want to see the coolest tools, price be damned, then check out www.woodcraft.com

[_Iz-]

You can make your own skilsaw/router table. The base of the saw/router just screws to the underside. You just have to make sure you support it really well and make sure it's not going to move or fall over when you start pushing your wood thru. I am a professional cabinetmaker and have made several of these over the years. It really helps if you can laminate the working surface (wilsonart, formica etc.) It's a good idea to get a scrap sheet of laminate and do the back as well as the laminate tends to shrink and will cup/warp your "table" unless you stabilize it by laminating both sides. Waxing the top surface of the laminate with a paste wax is also good, makes what you are cutting/routing "glide" thru nice and smooth. Apply paste wax (comes in a can) with a clean rag, let it dry and then buff it for a slick surface (use lots of elbow grease). We usually use "Turtle Wax", probably the same stuff you can get for your car...

[eightbit]

For large peices its much easier safer and more accurate to move the tool instead of the wood. Like someone posted above get a saw guide, which is just a long straight edge. It can be used with your router or your circular saw.

Don't try cutting big sheets of wood on a small tablesaw. Its dangerous and you won't be happy with the results anyway.

[Searcher7]

Hello hyiu.

I'm a fellow New Yorker in the same situation you are in.
I've been putting off buying a lot of tools(Table saw, Bench-
top drill press, Power Jointer, ect.) because I just don't have the room.   Being a tool junkie, I'll get them anyway, but I just want to make sure I get what is adequate for the projects I'll need them for. So I go to Home Depot about once a week to drool...(And soon there will be a Lowes opening up a couple of blocks from the Home Depot here on Staten Island. Arrrgh!). I can't tell you how many times I almost picked up that Ryobi table saw or Power jointer Home Depot sells for about $99 each).

ANyway, my present project involves a redesigned control panel for my (Multi-Williams)Joust cabinet. I'm an amateur inventor and I've come up with a quick-swap control panel system that will allow one to swap cp tops in just a few seconds.(I am a proponent of original control positions and don't believe in cluttered CPs). Anyway, I have even had to cross over into metalworking, because of the unique locking system I designed for this project.

But getting back to routing. It just so happens that a friend of mine just gave me a little Sears Craftsman router table(with router). Since I need to create sloping board-edge angles(11 degrees), I am in the process of thinking up a design for a little jig for the table in hopes I can use straight bits to get the angles I need. Outside of that, I think the fence the comes with will suffice for the keep everything on the straight and narrow.

In fact today I was even brain storming new ideas for an advanced router table that I plan to build(one day). Anyway, I'm concentrating on jigs to get the most out of the least. In fact I just won a book on the subject at Ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=29332&item=2904031261

As for cutting straight, it looks a lot easier than it is.(So I keep a wood rasp and plane handy).I use one of my three circular saws(5125/5250/HD-77) for the big cuts, and then work from there.

Darren Harris
Staten Island, New York.

Searcher7@mail.con2.com